The Eden Express_ A Memoir of Insanity - Mark Vonnegut [55]
“We can’t go back now, Mark.”
“Help, pleh, pleh!” What’s happened? Why can’t we go back? What have I wandered into? What have I dragged Simon and God knows who else into?
And the mocking hateful contempt of the face a few nights earlier, “Now you’re really going on a trip.”
“Trip pirt, help pleh,” as the sardonic wind and its accomplice, the Day-Glo water, rushed by in an eerie chuckle.
Simon handed me a carrot, which seemed at first like a strange thing to do but then as I bit into the carrot lots of things came back to me. It all made sense. The sound of chewing on the carrot was the same sound I had heard the night before while I was groaning in agony after I had tried to explain to Simon what was going on and begged for help. Simon had gone upstairs and explained to Jack and Kathy what had to be done and they had made rabbit-chewing-carrot noises and hypnotized me into believing that I was a rabbit. What a perfect choice, I thought, remembering my father doing Harvey in the Barnstable Comedy Club and everything else I could remember about rabbits. By giving me the carrot, Simon was starting to bring me out of my state. Hypnosis was being put on ice: a way to keep me from exploding, a way to help me last until I could find Virge.
That Simon had hypnotized me was very reassuring. He was in control and would make sure nothing bad happened.
I had no real idea of how long I had been in that state. It was possible that Simon had kept me in something like hibernation for weeks or even years, waiting for Virginia to come back so he could bring me out of it and get us back together for a happy ending after which we would all live happily ever after in Eden. Since he was bringing me out of it all the danger was past, it was all right for me to come back to life. Virginia was waiting for us in town. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bringing me out of my trance.
The trance slipped away as I ate more and more of the carrot. I felt strength and power spreading through my body. After my long sleep I was coming back, rested, stronger than ever before. I roared into the wind.
More than Virginia would be waiting at the dock. Simon had probably gotten hold of my mother and father and all the people we knew in Powell River and on and on. It was going to be the damnedest party anyone ever saw. A coming-out party, out of my hibernation that had gone on for God knows how long. A party to celebrate Virginia’s and my coming back together. I envisioned some sort of pagan wedding. What a story. What a love. What an ending. I hugged Simon with joy and unfathomable gratitude for what he had done for me, but he looked back at me with that worried look in his eyes. I calmed myself down and decided to just wait for whatever happened. Maybe there’s still more to this journey. I hoped for the best.
The sun went down just before we reached the marina. There was no one waiting there for us. No one at all. No one at all. No Virginia, no Vincent, no parents, not even a stranger, let alone a brass band. Well, what did you expect? I thought to myself, laughing at all the wild fantasies I had had, still half expecting lights and fireworks to come on any minute and “Surprise, surprise!” from gathered friends, everyone I had ever known hiding in the shadows, or at least Virge and Vincent.
What funny, funny things have been going through my mind. I chuckled going over and over the things I had thought. What a funny thing for a mind to do. What a good story. “Well, we made it,” I said to Simon, smiling. He smiled back, looking much relieved. Everything